Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun pledged today that justice will be served, five years after the massive explosion in Beirut’s port that has not been investigated.

On August 4, 2020, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history destroyed entire neighbourhoods of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring 6,500 others.

The explosion was triggered by a fire in a silo where tons of ammonium nitrate used as fertilizer had been stored without safety measures, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.

Josef Aoun said today that the Lebanese state is “committed to uncovering the whole truth, regardless of the obstacles or high-ranking officials involved”in a country where a culture of impunity is deeply entrenched.

Today has been declared a day of national mourning and protest marches, demanding justice, will be held this afternoon towards the port where the silo carcasses continue to linger among cranes and containers.

“The law applies to everyone, without exception, Lebanon’s president said in a statement. “We are working with all available means to ensure that investigations are conducted with transparency and integrity, he said.“The blood of your loved ones will not have been shed in vain, he said, addressing relatives of the victims, adding: “Justice is coming, accountability is coming.”

Aememem is coming, the message is coming, the message is coming.
The first judge, tasked in 2020 with the investigation, was forced to quit after he filed charges against former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers.

Independent judge Tarek Bitar reopened the investigation, which he was forced to suspend in January 2023, facing hostility from much of the political class, notably Hezbollah, before being prosecuted for insubordination by the prosecutor general, an unprecedented event in Lebanese history.

Relatives of the victims and several international NGOs have called for an international commission of inquiry to be set up, but have been met with an official Lebanese refusal.

After more than two years of deadlock, the judge resumed his investigations and, earlier this year, opened proceedings against 10 new individuals.

The judge has, for now, completed his inquiries and is awaiting a response to a request for information he sent in July to several Arab and European countries, a judicial official who wished to remain anonymous told Agence France-Presse.

The case, once the investigation is complete, will be referred to the prosecutor’s office for an opinion before any charges are brought, he added.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a former International Court of Justice judge, said yesterday that knowing the truth and finding those responsible is a “national issue, denouncing decades of impunity by the state.

The judge resumed his investigation after President Aoun and his prime minister took office, promising to uphold the independence of the judiciary and prevent any interference, following a shift in the balance of power that followed the war between Israel and pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

Judge Bitar‘s investigation was paralyzed after the Shiite group – long a dominant force on the Lebanese political scene, but which emerged weakened by the Israeli offensive in the fall – asked him to step down, accusing him of bias.

Mariana Fontoulian, from the victims’ families’ association, said, “For five years, those responsible have been trying to escape responsibility, continuing to consider themselves above the law.” “We ask for nothing more than the truth,” she told Agence France-Presse, adding: “We will not stop until we achieve full justice.”

Yesterday, Culture Minister Gasan Salame said the partially collapsed grain silos would be included in the list of historic buildings. Families of the victims are calling for them to be preserved as monuments of destruction.